Cabinet retreat in Esztergom – The Budapest Times

Written by Rainer Ackermann

On Sunday, Viktor Orbán spoke to the Fidesz-KDNP members of parliament behind closed doors. The governing parties made up for their meeting in Esztergom, which was prevented by the floods and normally takes place before the start of the parliamentary session.

The pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet believes it knows what the prime minister informed the politicians of the governing camp about. It says that Orbán has ‘announced an economic programme’, although the newspaper only lists the already known theses surrounding the new concept of ‘economic neutrality’. According to this, the government intends to focus on the topics of affordable housing, rapidly rising incomes, favourable loans for employees and capital injections for domestic SMEs.

The rise of the East

Orbán is said to have set the unambitious goal that Hungary must grow faster than the EU-27. Put simply, because the global order is shifting towards the East rising and the West falling, a new approach is needed. According to the newspaper, the prime minister is said to have stated that ‘in ten years at the latest, all the top global positions will go to the East’. The response of ‘Brussels and the western world’ to this is to start a ‘cold trade war’. This would be detrimental to Hungary, which is why it would be better to focus on economic neutrality. It must go its own way and adopt precisely those elements from both sides that are good and useful. Hungary must reject everything that harms the country.

With Scholz in Berlin

Orbán travelled to Berlin on Sunday evening, where he will take part in the 10th summit of the Berlin Process with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday. According to his press office, the Prime Minister was invited to the summit with a view to Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU and its role in the Western Balkans. Orbán also intends to use the opportunity to hold several bilateral talks with participants at the meeting.